Yeah, he has an advantage over them. His own melee prowess would be the advantage of him over the others. But the problem is, it is not noticeable, resulting him simply inferior to them.
As a warcaster, the head of the list, go melee is too risky job. So if a warcaster's advantage is his melee prowess, he needs to end the game, at least able to dish out much enemies in melee and very survivable. But he does neither.
So to repeat my question, what does he need to make him a worthy choice? What changes would you make?
First, give him anti armor capability seems necessary, or at least seems a way to make him viable. Else make him a good assassination tool.
See some casters which are good at melee and also considered as viable choice. Almost all of them are capable to dispatch almost any opponent they can face, thus the caster himself removes the incomming threat for the rest of them. And if you want to provide it the caster needs to deal with the armor as well.
If he is not so good at deal with the hard target, then what if using him as the tool for the assassination? You know, although Sturgis' Chain Attack lets him to place him, he can't able to rush through the enemy line, and he lacks Parry&Acrobatics. Even Jakes2 does better at assassination run, and Jakes2 is bad caster even with the capability to do that.
Survivability is also a great issue as well. See Caine1, who can scalpel out the soft targets as he pleases then Teleport out each turn. Although he can't do anything against the hard target(unless risking him to cast Thunder Strike) but he can aim for the important solos or even killing a bunch of troopers, then allow the others to aim for the hard target with his good buffs.
How about Sturgis? Sturgis shares Teleport with him, but he is very limited at this. His gear for kill is the melee weapons, only RNG 2" and threat range of 6+3+2=11" You may say for Chain Attack: Flash, but because of his position it is better to use it for the retreat, and even for that he can only go 3+6=9" fron the location when he attacks, and surely the vanguard of your opponent is not so difficult to find him and attack. If he doesn't and rush through using Chain Attack: Flash, it is unlikely that he is out of the engagement and placed on a safe area so it must be your last turn - either kill the enemy caster by him or got killed on the following turn.
But if line of sight is provided, Caine1 can attack any enemy within 7+12=19", or 23" if he casts Snipe on him, and all the targets are need to be within 12"(or 16" if he has Snipe, again) unlike Sturgis' 2", then able to retreat 6" safely and make at least 18" distance from the target even if the target is survives. Not to mention that Caine1 has ROF 2 on both of his guns, and able to get Reload(★Action) of Reinholdt, means he makes much more attacks but enjoys much more distance with the enemy.
Also check his spell lists. Arcane Shield, Snipe and Teleport are all good spells. Convection is bad but that's just a plain COST 2 DD spell as most casters have so pass. Lightning Storm is good but costs too much focus points.... although better than nothing consider his feat. Overall spell list is not so bad but just plain. The other Snipe casters are actually has similar arsenals, but Stryker1 has Earthquake to knockdown the enemy while also has Blur(although he lacks Teleport), Caine1 has Deadeye, and Thunder Strike as an ace on a sleeve. Maddox is a boring caster but has good upkeeps. Even compared by the other casters Sturgis's spell list is somewhat lacking. It can't be helped Sturgis is designed to be good at melee but not so better at spellcasting, though.
Feat: Dead on Arrival is not that bad, but hard to use.
Well, that's the problems.
Then how about the answers? I am not sure that my answers would be fit with the game without making game breaking issues, but what I have think about are...
Basic ideas:
-He will risking himself to go melee so we need the confidence that what he get would be terminated. Because he is a skilled duelist in the fluff, it is nothing wrong to raise his MAT.
-He is a frontline caster, so it is nothing wrong to give him the more points on his defense. It is not so weird that the frontline casters have 32 points total on DEF+ARM value.
-Also, because he is expected to be vulnerable against the enemy attacks, Groundwork is not so strange to have. After all it is not so powerful than Steady.
-It would be needed, to rush through the enemy line. Although not impactful than Acrobatics, but even if he starts the activation while in melee Parry will let him to go where he is needed.
- Change Feat: Dead on Arrival to: You can choose to immediately place Sturgis anywhere completely within 6" of its current location. Enemy non-warcaster, non-warlock models in Sturgis' control range are pushed 3" directly toward Sturgis in the order you choose. Then enemy models within 5" of Sturgis suffer a POW 12 magical damage roll. These damage rolls are simultaneous. For each models destroyed by Dead on Arrival, you can allocate 1 focus point to a warjack in Sturgis' battlegroup in his control range. If Sturgis is not placed by Dead on Arrival before, after resolve the damage roll you can place Sturgis anywhere completely within 6" of its current location.
-So, the feat lets him to be placed 6" before or after the feat, and make blast radius much bigger(3"->5"). Therefore we can let him rush through the enemy line and disrupt the formation&retreat safely by Teleport, use the feat to charge, dismantle the enemy vanguard and aim for the enemy caster, find out another enemy groups to kill by his blades after pop the feat, or use the similar tricks as Caine2's charge&Gate Crasher and extend his threat range greatly.
Optional Choices:
- Give him Duelist instead of DEF 17
-It surely makes him to abuse Reversal easier, but DEF 18 against the melee attack may make negative game experience. He needs to be quite survivable even on the frontline but he must not invincible, so it seems questionable.
-Yes, I know he already has Teleport. But if he has it and able to kill the enemy then he can retreat to the safe distance at least. He is the warcaster but can't do much against armors, so it is not so bad. The problem is, I am not sure that it stacks with Teleport.
- Give him Iron Sentinel instead of DEF 17
-He is a frontliner caster, and a warcaster. So why not to let him fight side by side with his warjacks? It also mimics Sidekick(only applied for him, though)
- Increase POW of his Blades by 1(overall P+S 14)
-Perhaps allow him to crack armor or kill better?
-It will makes him more survivable, and also help his warjacks.
- Add Positive Charge spell
-because Jakes2 has it so it is nothing wrong to add it. It can be a tool for the assassination, and also a spell for aid his jacks.
- Add Engine of Destruction spell
-I am not a fan of thiving the other faction&caster's signature spells, and Sturgis is mobile than Feora1, so it seems not a good idea and better to be avoided. Just add the idea because I have think about self-melee buff spell and it is one of the most typical spells among them.
- Add Blood Boon on both of his Blades.
-Help him to cast Lighting Storm while he is in melee....
- Add Field Marshal[Relentless Charge]
-An another warjack buff.
- Allow Feat: Dead on Arrival to pushing other models in Sturgis' battlegroup up to 3" direct toward him
- It is somewhat danger to allow 6" more threat range, but remember Sturgis needs to be move closer to the enemy in order to use it well. And because Dead on Arrival also has slight support for his warjacks, it seems not that bad to consider.
- Instead of allocate focus points, Feat: Dead on Arrival lets one warjack per kill to charge immediately
-An another improve battlegroup support for the feat. It is an out of activation charge so it may make some problems, though.
- Allow warjacks in his battlegroup to charge without spend focus point against models that suffers a damage roll by Feat: Dead on Arrival
-Although many models are killed outright against a POW 12 damage roll, but many models are not taking noticeable damages. So I think that it seems worth considering.
So, what about these?